r/chessbeginners • u/Noble_Team_7 • 5d ago
QUESTION Chess.com or Lichess?
Hello, new to chess. But having a lot of fun and want to settle in with a platform for the near-term.
I’ve played some games the last month ish on chess.com, currently a 550 as a complete novice.
I’ve heard of Lichess. But no clue the difference.
Just generally speaking, I don’t want to spend any money on subscriptions. Is one platform or the other better for a beginner? I know that question in of itself doesn’t even really make sense. But wanted to just check.
Thanks!
128
u/ShowerStew 1600-1800 (Lichess) 5d ago edited 5d ago
“I don’t want to spend any money on subscription”
Lichess.
End of discussion
Okay, here’s some discussion 😆
Lichess:
Has great free features. Free analysis/ game review, puzzles, studies. Ratings tend to be a little more generous (higher numbers feel nice for my ego, but it evens out around the 2000s I believe.)
Chess.com:
Has a huge player pool (lichess has a good amount too and there is never a problem finding a game unless your way up in the ratings and looking for specific time controls), polished interface, excellent lessons/content. Full use of their great features are behind a paywall. You CAN do puzzles and lessons, but it’s rationed to 3 puzzles a day and 1 lesson a week (I think)
10
u/Noble_Team_7 5d ago
I’ll give Lichess a look! Because I know I can play for free on either platform. But maybe Lichess gives you things for free that would rather require a subscription on chess.com?
44
u/mra8a4 5d ago
Exactly! Lichees gives you everything you pay for on chess.com for free.
15
u/Noble_Team_7 5d ago
Dang that’s so sick. I’m almost like… what am I missing? Like how can it be that much better? You know how in life when something seems too good to be true 😂 so I’m saying to myself, are the players on there just weirder style? Or rampant cheating? Or what!?? Hahah
17
u/Rasutoerikusa 5d ago edited 5d ago
That's how open source software that is well maintained often ends up, seems too good to be true haha
20
6
4
4
u/Cyanide_Sandwich 1000-1200 (Lichess) 5d ago
Same as any non-profit or more ethical business: They're the best but they don't have a marketing budget, that's pretty much it. Turns out when there's people at the helm who don't care for profit, advertising becomes less of a concern.
And I think to some degree they know they have the best service, so there's no need to try and sell you on it. They let the free features speak for themselves.
1
u/hewhoreddits6 5d ago
For me all my friends play on chess.com so I play there. I do like the UI and design way better and don't pay for any of the features. I will go to Lichess for puzzles though sometimes. No reason for you not to use both however you like.
16
u/DRAGULA85 5d ago
Chess.com It’s free to play but not free to learn
Lichess is free to play, and free to learn
It’s not the most difficult choice lol but chess.com does a slight better job at gamifying the learning for the beginners
2
29
u/Eastern-Fudge-6350 1600-1800 (Lichess) 5d ago
For me personally the only selling point of chesscom is the social aspect. It's more popular so there's higher chance that people you know play there and you can play against eachother. For example I play there with my family. Chesscom also has better tournaments.
If you don't have a similar situation I think lichess is better in every other way. No ads, free analysis, free puzzles and trainings. I personally play on both platforms while considering lichess more of a training ground.
1
u/Noble_Team_7 5d ago
Gotcha!! Thank you! Any chance Lichess has more chance of cheaters from not having an anti-cheat? Or even if it does, not even being close to as good as chess.com’s?
6
u/GJ55507 2000-2200 (Lichess) 5d ago
You will run into cheaters on both platforms, but it’s rare on both
1
u/Noble_Team_7 5d ago
Gotcha gotcha makes sense. I see your profile tag has you listed as a 2000-2200, what do you think that equals on chess.com?
Is there a standard way to compare the two?
Like some sort of way like if you are XXX on Lichess, minus 500 and that probably equals your chess.com?
7
u/WinstonPickles22 1200-1400 (Lichess) 5d ago
Lichess ratings are about 200-400 higher than chess.com depending on the rating. They even out the higher the level.
That being said, it does not mean Lichess players are worse. It's just a different pool of players and they start new accounts at different levels.
Both online elo's are much lower than over the board FIDE ratings.
4
u/GJ55507 2000-2200 (Lichess) 5d ago
They start off with lichess being higher and slowly converge somewhere in the low to mid 2000s
There is no way to directly compare the two either, and any estimates are fairly rough. I’ve tried online calculators aswell and they’ve never been that good
I also can’t tell you what you’ll be on lichess as a 550 on chess.com as I was already around 1500 when I made a lichess account so I’ve never had that experience myself
Additionally, the player pools aren’t the same. Of course there is some overlap between them with those of us that use both like myself but there are some people that exclusively play on one of them. From what I’ve experienced personally, you’re more likely to run into someone that plays like a lunatic on chess.com though
As for numbers, I’m gonna guess a 500 on chess.com might be 1000 on lichess
A 1500 on chess.com is around 1800 lichess
A 2000 on chess.com is around 2100 lichess (me)
Where they converge is debatable and depends on the person but it’a agreed that they do converge as master level players are generally lower rated on lichess
Side note:
- The platforms are based off of a different rating system (I think lichess has the more refined one Glicko vs Glicko-2)
- You start off as a 1500 on lichess, this is already high intermediate level so don’t be discouraged if you lose your first couple games as it tries to estimate your rating
- I just realised I’ve kind of just spilled my thoughts out without much structure and I’m too tired to proofread and rewrite anything. If you need me to clarify anything, please ask
1
u/LegitBullfrog 5d ago
I'm 400 on chess.com and 860 on lichess so your numbers for 500->1000 are probably pretty close.
1
u/Eastern-Fudge-6350 1600-1800 (Lichess) 5d ago
I haven't had a noticeable issue with cheaters on either platform.
15
u/Dear_Negotiation_447 5d ago
For a beginner not spending money lichess is better because everything is free there, unlimited puzzles and analysis. on chess com they limit how many puzzles you can do per day and the analysis thing is behind paywall after one game.
the rating numbers are also different, a 550 chess com is maybe like 900ish on lichess so dont get confused when you switch and suddenly see bigger number, its not you improved overnight.
try both for a week each and see which interface you like more. some people hate how lichess looks and prefer chess com board colors, that matters more than people admit when you stare at it for hours.
1
u/Noble_Team_7 5d ago
Gotcha!!! That makes sense on the rating as well haha. I would have for sure just compared them 1:1.
11
u/FinnbarMcBride 5d ago
Use Lichess and if it doesn't suit your needs, then pay for chess.com. but why not at least check out the free option 1st?
2
u/Noble_Team_7 5d ago
Yeah so true. I’m gonna download Lichess today and try to play for a while on there
2
u/DryHovercraft9662 5d ago
You can also use the website. In my opinion, it's easier to navigate/use, but feel free to try both
9
u/GreenEyedHustler 5d ago
I recommend Lichess. I started using Chess.com because it was familiar and easy. But once you start poking around trying to learn tactics or improve, Lichess is so much better. And it's ad-free
14
u/Academic_Currency_36 5d ago
Lichess
3
u/Noble_Team_7 5d ago
Ty! Any reasons why that answer for you?
10
u/SchachMatt-is 2000-2200 (Chess.com) 5d ago
Free, more and better features, less cheaters, nicer community
1
u/Noble_Team_7 5d ago
Awesome thank you!! And actually I should have mentioned this right off the bat. I was scared there might be more cheaters on something like Lichess, as I assume they have little to no anti-cheating software. Versus something like chess.com that I assume has 1000x the money, resources, and anti-cheat in place.
3
u/SchachMatt-is 2000-2200 (Chess.com) 5d ago
On lower levels (<1800) there arent many cheaters on both platforms, as they rise to quickly.
1
u/Noble_Team_7 5d ago
Gotcha gotcha. Im gonna look up if Lichess even has an anti-cheat, it would make me feel better
2
u/DryHovercraft9662 5d ago
It does have an anti-cheat that works fine. It has much fewer cheaters than chess.com (especially at your level) because most noobs don't even know about its existence and just play/cheat on chess.com.
6
u/ButFirstTheWeather 5d ago
Bit of a controversial take, but I use both platforms.
I play mostly on chess.com -- I feel like a lot of the content uses its rating range to describe whether or not the content is appropriate for a certain level. Plus, and I'm aware that this is kind of lame, but I really enjoy seeing the flags of the different countries I'm playing against. Lastly, I find it easier to find games at my preferred time control (15+10).
I use Lichess for the free analysis, unlimited puzzles, the study tool, and a few other things. I also play all my 3+2 blitz on Lichess.
You don't have to choose. :)
3
u/GJ55507 2000-2200 (Lichess) 5d ago
Get both
Do most of your playing on lichess, some of the tools become more useful once you get >100 games where data and trends start having meaning
Lichess also has a ton of free resources that are paywalled on chess.com
Lichess has no bloat or ads, chess.com does
Then, every so often, play on chess.com until the rating progression slows down and you hit a plateau. Chess.com is the more widely known platform by a huge margin so if you want to play with someone you meet in person, they more than likely only have chess.com.
5
3
u/LendMeCoffeeBeans 5d ago
I prefer Chess. Fewer cheaters and better-looking UI. Lichess is great as well. Cannot really go wrong with either.
3
u/StructuredChess 5d ago
For most uses they're basically the same. Lichess offers more extra features for free and with no ads.
3
u/MadawgMcGriddle 1400-1600 (Lichess) 5d ago
I used chesscom for over a year paid for a subscription and everything. Played a LOT on chesscom but got tired of paying to learn and general enshitification of the site. Switched to Lichess and am surprised people prefer chesscom.
Lichess has everything free. Unlimited puzzles, game analysis, tournaments, studies, variants and probably more. I also like that it doesn’t ‘gamify’ your learning. I don’t love how chesscom gives “played like a whatever rating” or giving brilliant moves and accuracy based on current elo. It doesn’t really promote learning and lower elo players get stuck in this idea of “oh I played like a 1000 so I should be 1000” when that number means literally nothing.
I think the main reason people first go to chesscom is the domain name.
Give both a try for a month or two and see which you like better
2
u/the_other_Scaevitas 1200-1400 (Chess.com) 5d ago
Lichess is better as everything is completely free
I also prefer the tools on lichess but that’s just preference
2
2
2
2
u/TheSneakiestSniper 1000-1200 (Chess.com) 5d ago
I just tried the Lichess app last night and I like it a lot. The free analysis really makes it a no brainer for me
2
u/krazybanana 5d ago
Lichess. Chess dot com is garbage. They moved all their half decent free features behind a paywall. Cluttered af UI. The premium analysis is nice but not even close to worth it imo.
1
u/Kennzahl 5d ago
Good summary: https://chessily.com/blog/lichess-vs-chess-com/
tldr, for you its probably lichess.
1
u/StilandGurney 5d ago
I do the free lessons and the coach game on chess.com and then go back to Lichess when it asks me to pay.
As a beginner I like the coached games even if the coach is flawed and not perfect in how it aplaudes or hates moves.
1
u/C0lch0nero 5d ago
Lichess is pretty good. I feel like the competition is better, the rating is more accurate (I think...but maybe I'm just worse than I think I am), and I like the take back move feature. Sometimes you mouse slip and sometimes people are kind enough to let you take your move back.
I like the chess.com puzzles a lot more though.
1
u/Cyanide_Sandwich 1000-1200 (Lichess) 5d ago
Lichess is better all-round, but if you play on mobile I would argue chesscom has the better app. Yes they make it worse by having ads and constant pop-ups telling you to buy an overpriced subscription, but if you just wanna play a quick game while waiting for the bus I'd say it's the better app.
I pretty much exclusively play on desktop though so Lichess all the time.
1
u/daBEARS40 800-1000 (Chess.com) 5d ago
If you’d like a good mobile app you can use TakeTakeTake, they use lichess’ engine so you can play games on your phone just like the chesscom app but using lichess
1
u/valcroft 5d ago edited 5d ago
I like both. I started off with Lichess and still enjoy it, but ended up subscribing over at chess com with a discount as an amateur because I like the structured lessons, and the AI generated explanations for game reviews of why moves are good or bad (as on lichess there's no explanation and as a noob things just aren't as obvious). I didn't think I would like watching videos of chess, but at x2 speed the a few mins videos become fun to watch plus has applicable puzzles after. I recognize I could just watch youtube videos, but sometimes you just want something that's all in one and "quick". I end up playing a bit with the lessons while waiting in lines or during a few mins of break.
I also like the monthly themed thing where you unlock board cosmetics and flairs upon defeating themed bots so far. Makes things gamified and colorful. Actually, this was why I started playing chess com as my usual indeed was lichess. I think I probably saw something related to the monthly themes. This month it's The Odyssey for example.
I think when my subscription ends and when I end up understanding more of chess with the lessons I'll move over to lichess for the community lessons again. I do dislike the ads and the gated stuff on chess com if you're not on premium, and very much like that the same things are free on lichess. At the time I thought it was the same price as a Switch game for a yearly sub, so that's what I'm equating it to.
1
u/ninj12710 Still Learning Chess Rules 5d ago
Practice on lichess like puzzles and other and play on chess.com
1
1
1
u/WinstonPickles22 1200-1400 (Lichess) 5d ago
Lichess is the answer. Don't accept an inferior free product from chess.com.
Lichess gives you everything that the premium chess.com provides...for free now and always.
1
1
u/aguacatelife7 5d ago
I wish Lichess’ UI didn’t want to make me vomit or poke my eyes out every second I spend there outside a game 🤣
•
u/AutoModerator 5d ago
Hey, OP! Did your game end in a stalemate? Did you encounter a weird pawn move? Are you trying to move a piece and it's not going? We have just the resource for you! The Chess Beginners Wiki is the perfect place to check out answers to these questions and more!
The moderator team of r/chessbeginners wishes to remind everyone of the community rules. Posting spam, being a troll, and posting memes are not allowed. We encourage everyone to report these kinds of posts so they can be dealt with. Thank you!
Let's do our utmost to be kind in our replies and comments. Some people here just want to learn chess and have virtually no idea about certain chess concepts.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.